In the area of archery, a wide variety of arrowheads are known. Most are obviously designed to either provide a smooth entry into a target or for hunting, that is, most arrowheads are designed for creating maximum damage to the target.
While there seem to very few arrowheads which are designed for minimizing damage, there are a fair number which are designed for delivery of paint. The motivation for these designs is hunting: marking a tree with a scent ball helps to mask the smell of the hunters. However, the hunter obviously cannot walk up to the tree and mark it by hand without leaving their scent anyway. Thus there is a desire to mark a tree with scent or paint shot from a distance.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,449,413 to Jackson et al (May 28, 2013) (and U.S. Pat. No. 8,932,159 in the same family) teaches a design with only a single layer of protection, a foam arrowhead which connects directly to the connector to the arrowshaft.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,731,612 to Martin (Jun. 8, 2010) teaches a plastic container having a number of parts which fit together so as to hold a paint ball or scent ball onto the head of an arrow. When the arrow is fired, the various parts crush the paintball (and in some cases the parts as well), thus marking the tree as desired. A cap may be provided to prevent damage to the target. This patent also teaches in numerous ways away from the idea of safety shooting an arrow at another human being: it teaches shooting at stumps, trees, etc, and teaches a plastic cap as the only protection for the target. Other documents in the same family include U.S. Pat. No. 7,601,084 (Martin, Oct. 12, 2009), 2008/0096702 (Martin, Apr. 24, 2008), etc. These items are clearly not safe for use on human targets, as well as being by and large “single-use” items, lacking various structures and so on.
US Patent Pub. No. 2010/0207330 to Yaroch et al on Aug. 19, 2010 teaches a “rubber” material (possibly for safety) which is dipped into ink on the front end, then shot at a target on a framework.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,449,413 to Jackson et al on May 28, 2013 teaches a non-lethal arrow having a foam tip. U.S. Pat. No. 7,861,657 to Danon et al on Jan. 4, 2011 teaches another non-lethal arrowhead. Arrows having rubber suction cups, for use with tiny toy bows, are also known.
Other US Patents which teach scent or paint application by means of arrows, but which do not suggest that a human might be safely targeted by means of their structures, include:
U.S. Pat. No. Name Date
U.S. Pat. No. 735,415 Schrodel Aug. 4, 1903
U.S. Pat. No. 5,669,836 Hill Sep. 23, 1997
U.S. Pat. No. 5,711,284 Keenan, Jr. Jan. 27, 1998
U.S. Pat. No. 5,303,496 Kowalkowski Apr. 19, 1994
U.S. Pat. No. 6,142,895 Jason Nov. 7, 2000
U.S. Pat. No. 4,261,321 Nishioka Apr. 14, 1981
U.S. Pat. No. 2,214,224 Douglas Sep. 10, 1940
U.S. Pat. No. 2,069,821 Douglas Feb. 9, 1934
U.S. Pat. No. 8,371,281 Van Der Linden Feb. 12, 2013
U.S. Pat. No. 6,450,905 Edlund Sep. 17, 2002
U.S. Pat. No. 8,087,405 Mitchell Jan. 3, 2012
U.S. Pat. No. 5,035,183 Luxton Jul. 30, 1991
U.S. Pat. No. 295,304 Swan Mar. 18, 1884
U.S. Pat. No. 532,770 Davids Jan. 22, 1895
U.S. Pat. No. 6,394,919 Ossege May 28, 2002
U.S. Pat. No. 6,174,251 Lemote Jan. 16, 2001
U.S. Pat. No. 5,033,446 Bradt Jul. 23, 1991
U.S. Pat. No. 5,123,657 Colt et al Jun. 23, 1992
Other miscellaneous US Patents concerning various unrelated projectiles include:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,049,828 Mills Aug. 21, 1962
U.S. Pat. No. 1,348,224 Kemp Aug. 3, 1920
U.S. Pat. No. 3,472,218 La Mers Oct. 14, 1969
U.S. Pat. No. 3,649,020 Hall Mar. 14, 1972
U.S. Pat. No. 4,634,606 Skogg Jan. 6, 1987
U.S. Pat. No. 4,944,521 Greeno Jul. 31, 1990
U.S. Pat. No. 7,934,454 Campo et al May 3, 2011
U.S. Pat. No. 7,073,732 Abba et al Jul. 11, 2006
U.S. Pat. No. 1,920,257 Halland Aug. 1, 1933
U.S. Pat. No. 6,159,117 Chan Dec. 12, 2000
U.S. Pat. No. 3,672,677 Moore Jun. 27, 1972
U.S. Pat. No. 3,528,662 Merchant et al Sep. 15, 1970
U.S. Pat. No. 8,505,524 Lyon Aug. 13, 2013
U.S. Pat. No. 5,009,165 Morris Apr. 23, 1991
U.S. Pat. No. 8,057,330 Blosser et al Nov. 15, 2011
U.S. Pat. No. 5,515,785 Zglenicki May 14, 1996
U.S. Pat. No. 5,836,842 McLearan Nov. 17, 1998
U.S. Pat. No. 5,928,049 Hudson Jul. 27, 1999
It will be noted that none of these items teach a foam arrowhead having an aperture on the front face, the aperture part of a cavity on the front face, the cavity the shape of a sphere minus a spherical cap.
It would be preferable to provide a safe arrowhead which is designed to cushion, and additionally to absorb shock, when it impacts a target.
It would further be preferable to provide a safe arrowhead conveying a standard paintball thereon.
It would further be preferable to provide a safe arrowhead conveying a whistle therein.